| Voice Editorial |
HEAR OUR VOICE
It's been some time since we launched Voice, our webzine aimed at, but not exclusively for, the disabled.
Since we started Voice it's been the beginning of a huge learning curve.
We have added several editors to the team and decided that the magazine should be as open and accessible as possible.
Many of contributors are disabled but just as many are not.
I would like to see Voice develop even more as an open forum for all writers and I would love to see both artists and
poets submit material.
In the latest issue of Voice we have included three articles by a writer with so much
knowledge of the UK writing scene that we thought it vital that she should share her knowledge with our readers.
I only met Stephanie Spiers recently when I presented her with a £1,000 prize for winning our national poetry
competition. Stephanie has an overwhelming knowledge of the writing scene at both national and local levels which
she is pleased to share. I must extend my thanks to her for her valuable contribution.
Peter Quinn
WE ARE WHAT WE CREATE
Hello! Let me begin by wishing you all the most vibrant of welcomes to Voice.
I must also bid you welcome to my debut as an editor, so be gentle with me please. Despite of, or perhaps because of, my absolute inexperience, assisting with the editing of Voice has proved to be a fascinating experience. Some of the work we have been sent showed considerable promise and this certainly bodes well for the future of the magazine in general. Keep them coming please.
As many of you may already know, the initial concept behind Voice was to launch the magazine in a printed format as a forum for disabled writers on the grounds that artistic expression and suffering are often linked. The work of just about every war poet you could care to mention is a definite case in point, but then so to is that of artists such as Otto Dix and other expressionists. This consideration presented us with a problem, because no sooner did we accept the existence of the link between poetry and suffering than we had to expand our concept to include that of art in general. At a very early stage we realized that it would be only reasonable to accept artistic as well poetic contributions, and some of our earliest contributors embraced this concept by accompanying their poems with line drawings. The point is that Voice began to evolve almost from the moment of its inception, and its parameters were seen to have to expand to accept a broader range of valid contributions. From the many intelligent and vital letters we have received, it became obvious that, alongside the Arts Council’s reluctance to provide financial assistance for our creative forum, this issue of definition, and the possible need to expand our project's conceptual boundaries was of paramount importance.
In common with many of you, I am anxious to be known as a poet/writer first, a person second and disabled only if I have to, and therefore I am delighted to be able to announce that we now envisage the Voice project as a vehicle through which creativity and artistic and poetic expression can overcome adversity. I hope this meets with your approval. If not, write and tell us why not, because to remain vital, our forum has to be as interactive as possible, and as representative of your expression and creative energy as possible.
I hope you do not mind our interpreting Voice in terms of the struggle of creativity over adversity, but I wanted the project to reflect some of the character of its creative spirit, Peter Quinn.
Creativity is essential because it allows us all to define ourselves in a new and liberated manner. The romantic movement in poetry and art had philosophical, physical, and political liberation as its axis, and it is this energy and spirit that informs our attempts to overcome personal adversity through our work and escape physical and mental definition and constraints. When it comes to art and poetry, we are what we create, and it is through our work that we are known. If you want to write about your physical world, that's fine, or if you’re in some dark and lonely mental room, then get it down, express it and send it in, show us what you’re feeling. The chance is that there's someone else out there who’s going through exactly the same thing. On the other hand, if you want to forget the physical world and escape into abstraction, that should be fine too. If you have a spiritual connection with the forces of nature, then don't keep it to yourself, share it with us. If you’ve just been to an amazing concert or a football match, or leapt out of a perfectly good aircraft, or if you’ve just experienced your first African sunrise, then express that. Alternatively you might wish to revisit some of your most exhilarating, humorous, or moving memories with us so that we can feel them too. The beauty of creativity is that it knows no boundaries. All these approaches are equally valid. The creative forum has to be an open one. The important thing is that we use our creativity to produce something with which we can be associated, and that we find excitement and fulfilment in doing so, because it is the sense of excitement and fulfilment that will keep us writing, drawing and painting in the future.
A word or two on format: the alteration of format to a webzine is something that has been rather forced upon us by the refusal of Arts Council funding, but in the true spirit of overcoming adversity, I believe that this could be extremely beneficial for our project in so far as it does allow us to accept long as well as short poems, letters as well as dreadful editorials by the likes of Yours Truly, and coloured artistic work as well as monochrome ones. It also allows us to create a contacts page for anyone who wishes to increase their involvement with Voice, and, in particular, anyone who feels up to sharing in the invigorating assistant editorial duties! Anyone who knows me will not waste many words in telling you that I need help!
That's more than enough from me. Have a look at our work, including mine, and let us know what you think. If you find yourself inspired, then get creating. A million thanks to everyone who has contributed so far, and I look forward to Voice receiving lots more of your work and being able to get it into the air. This is your Voice: please use it!
Owen Lowery
Voice Editor Profiles
Owen Lowery
For as long as I can remember, I have loved words and their flexibility, and have read poetry. I find music, warfare, nature, and British
folk culture fascinating subjects to address in my work, and have been influenced by sources as varied as Gerard Manley Hopkins, Dylan
Thomas, Wilfred Owen, Louis MacNeice, Austin Clarke, Ian Dury, and Shane MacGowan, in no particular order. I only hope I do them justice in
my work, most of which has been produced while reading an MA in Creative Writing at Bolton University, under the leadership of Jon Glover.
I have not been writing seriously for long, but have achieved a little success by winning the United Press Local Poet Competition and BBC
GMR’s Christmas Ghost Story Competition. I’ve also enjoyed the good fortune to have my first novel, Under Mound, shortlisted for possible
publication as a result of a competition hosted by Writer’s News. Poetry remains my favoured form of expression though, on the basis of its
supreme immediacy and vitality. The joy of poetry lends great importance to the Voice project on the grounds that Voice allows many poets,
who might otherwise have struggled to be heard, to experience the joy of creating poetry at first hand and to present their creativity to a
like-minded audience. Viva Voice.
Lisa Plowman
Lisa has been inspired from a young age after reading many Enid Blyton books
as a child, and began writing poetry at the tender age of fourteen. She continued until
her circumstances changed.
In June 2005 she picked up the thread, restarting where she left off. Now she is a
34-year-old Mum of five children. Their fun-filled lives have fired
up Lisa's imagination and she has written children's fantasy poems and stories as a
bedtime treat for them.
Lisa's writing journey continues. She now pens supernatural thrillers and
short ghost stories.
She is also artistic and draws tigers in pastel, which has been a hobby since she was 16.
Lorna Jane Thorpe
My name is Lorna Jane Thorpe. I am 49 years old so it is a big one this year.
I was born in Royston Hertfordshire and I now live in a small town called Potton. I have lived here for 18 months or so.
I live not far from where I was actually born. It is easy access for Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire.
On my short journey to work I pass through all three counties.
I am a dental nurse and work in a village practice. I have done this for 18 years. I love the job as I am a people person.
I wrote my first poem in the lane where I park when I arrive at work. It was written from the heart as are all things that I write.
I lost my Dad a couple of years ago and I wrote it for him.
Since then I have written quite a lot more and have had 4 poems published by United Press.
I have also written a book about life with my Dad and all the memories I have of him.
Poetry, to me, has been a great release of feelings and emotions. I wish I had started years ago.